Apple has filed for a patent (number 20180220542) for a “compact media player.” Even though it’s a continuation and update of patents going back to 2009, I’m not sure what the tech giant is working on here.
In the patent filing, Apple says that Electronic devices such as media players are often used in applications in which excessive size and weight isn’t desirable. For example, many users of media players listen to music while exercising or traveling, In situations such as these, it can be highly desirable to minimize the bulk of a media player.
In conventional media player designs, packaged integrated circuits and other components are mounted on a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board is mounted within a device housing using brackets and other mounting hardware. Conventional designs of this type are sufficiently durable to withstand normal handling, but can sometimes be more bulky than desired. Apple says it would “be desirable to be able to provide compact arrangements for media players and other electronic devices.”
A new Apple device? Maybe. But what would be the advantage over using our iPhones, iPads, and Mac laptops as media devices.
Here’s Apple’s (highly technical) summary of the invention: “An electronic device such as a media player is formed from electrical components such as integrated circuits, buttons, and a battery. Electrical input-output port contacts are used to play audio and to convey digital signals. Electrical components for the device are mounted to a substrate. The components are encapsulated in an encapsulant and covered with an optional housing structure.
“The electrical input-output port contacts and portions of components such as buttons remain uncovered by encapsulant during the encapsulation process. Integrated circuits are entirely encapsulated with encapsulant. The integrated circuits are packaged or unpackaged integrated circuit die. The substrate is a printed circuit board or is an integrated circuit to which components are directly connected without any printed circuit boards interposed between the integrated circuit and the components.”
Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.
